Pistons among pro teams hiring exec search firms

The Detroit Pistons are the latest professional sports team to use a corporate headhunter to find a top executive.

Team owner Tom Gores' California-based private equity firm, Platinum Equity LLC, has retained Los Angeles-based Korn/Ferry International (NYSE: KFY) to aid the basketball team in finding a new president of basketball operations/general manager.

Joe Dumars resigned from that role on April 14 after 14 years in the role. He's now an adviser to the team, which has missed the playoffs the past five seasons and experienced a significant dip in attendance, season ticket sales and revenue.

Korn/Ferry was involved in the University of Michigan's hiring of Brady Hoke and David Brandon, and has a sports practice dedicated to finding executives for college athletic departments and professional teams.

Joe Dumars

Leading the search internally for Dumars' replacement are two of Gores' Platinum lieutenants: Phil Norment, senior executive responsible for evaluating investment initiatives, and Robert Wentworth, a former Ernst & Young CPA and former CEO.

Norment and Wentworth have had oversight of the Pistons and Palace Sports & Entertainment as business entities since Gores bought them for $325 million in 2011. They were Gores' on-site senior executives in charge at the Palace during the ownership transition, and they led the analysis of PS&E's business practices.

The team said a list of candidates has been developed. No names were disclosed, but several have emerged in media reports. Among those mentioned have been Scott Perry, a former Pistons executive and current assistant general manager/vice president of the Orlando Magic, and former Detroit players Isiah Thomas and Grant Hill.

Dumars' role in the interim is being handled by Ken Catanella, director of basketball operations, and Assistant General Manager George David.

Korn/Ferry's role is to vet candidates, create profile work-ups of them, and assist in hiring.

How much the firm is charging Platinum hasn't been disclosed.

The University of Texas paid $267,000 to Korn/Ferry for its help in hiring Charlie Strong as the Longhorns' new football coach, according to USA Today. Public university spending must be disclosed.

Colorado State University paid Chicago-based Spencer Stuart $250,000 for a football coaching search that ended with Jim McElwain's hiring in 2011, according to Forbes.com, and Florence, Mass.-based Alden and Associates Inc. charged the University of Connecticut $50,000 for the search that produced football coach Paul Pasqualoni in 2011.

Other major search firms with sports practices include Chicago-based DHR International and Oak Brook, Ill.-based Witt/Kieffer.

The University of Michigan didn't responded to a request from Crain's for what Korn/Ferry was paid to aid in the search that resulted in David Brandon being hired away as athletic director from Ann Arbor-based pizza giant Domino's Inc. in 2010, and in football coach Brady Hoke being hired from San Diego State in 2011.

The Detroit Regional Chamber used Korn/Ferry to find CEO Sandy Baruah in 2010 when it hired him away from the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Executive head hunting is lucrative.

Korn/Ferry had $43.8 million in operating income on $812 million in 2013 revenue, according to its annual report. It didn't specifically break out revenue for its sports practice.

That practice is run by Jed Hughes, a former pro football coach who has a Ph.D. in organizational behavior.

"I can pick up the phone and call almost every head coach in any sport and get them to return my call and get better insight than an owner could because I've paid the price of being a coach," Hughes told Bloomberg Businessweek for a profile in January 2013 after New York Jets owner Woody Johnson hired him to search for a replacement for fired General Manager Mike Tannenbaum. "It's been in my DNA, assessing people."

The Jets hired Seattle Seahawks vice president of football administration John Idzik to fill the GM role.

Hughes previously did third-party psychological testing and assessments for the San Francisco 49ers and Green Bay Packers, Businessweek reported.

Hughes joined Korn/Ferry in January 2012. He previously was involved in the hiring of Green Bay Packers CEO Mark Murphy, Pac 12 Commissioner Larry Scott, and the Seattle Seahawks top three positions: coach Pete Carroll, General Manager John Schneider, and CEO Peter McLoughlin.

Korn/Kerry was used last year by Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, owner of the NBA's Toronto Raptors, in the hiring of Masai Ujiri as the basketball team's president. He had been the Denver Nuggets' general manager and 2013 NBA Executive of the Year.

The Raptors returned to the playoffs this season after a five-year absence.

On the sports executive side, Korn/Ferry said it was hired in the searches for Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby, Pro Football Hall of Fame President David Baker, and Arizona State University Athletic Director Ray Anderson.

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